Netflix announced yesterday in their Q4 earnings letter to shareholders they will be streaming Sony’s The Interview for Canadian and U.S. viewers starting January 24, one month after the controversial movie debuted:

We are thrilled to offer exclusively the controversial comedy, The Interview, to our US and Canadianmembers beginning this Saturday, Jan. 24 – just thirty days after it debuted in theaters and pay-per-view.

In August, Netflix will debut their original feature film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon II: The Green Destiny to U.S. and Canadian members as well.

Global Expansion Over the Next Two Years

The streaming media service also has reached 57.4 million members, adding 4.33 million users in the quarter. The company says “Internet TV is growing globally and Netflix is leading the charge.”

Thanks to staying profitable globally, Netflix says it will be able to complete a global expansion over the next two years, earlier than expected. This means Netflix will hit 200 countries, thanks in part to the continued growth of the Internet in general and proliferation of smartphones, tablets and smart TVs.

Netflix also mentioned competition from its international markets, including Canada. All they noted was “Shomi and CraveTV launched in Canada”; you may recall shomi is the streaming service from Rogers and Shaw, while CraveTV is from Bell.

When asked about what changed for the company for them to be able to roll out globally in just over two years, CEO Reed Hastings credited success of their first wave of markets, which included Canada along with Latin America, Nordics, Netherlands, UK and Ireland, which were “profitable together as a group”, calling it a “tremendous accomplishment,” as current growth rates will lead to continued significant profits moving forward.

Netflix’s growth is pretty impressive and to attempt a global expansion in two years is incredibly ambitious. The Canadian library has improved since its early days and I imagine it’s only going to get better. You can check out their originals premiere dates here.

I found the movie was overall pretty funny, not usually one for raunchy comedies, but the movie was really good for the first third and last third. I found the middle though, dragged and wasn’t as funny. May give it a second viewing when it is on netflix.